Sami Zayn Says He Lost Faith In WWE Title Dream At The Royal Rumble
Sami Zayn began doubting he’d ever be WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble.
At Night of Champions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 27, Sami Zayn shockingly defeated Cody Rhodes and GUNTHER in Triple Threat action to capture the Undisputed WWE Championship for the first time in his career.
Appearing on the latest episode of Raw Recap, Sami Zayn opened up about feeling as though he had missed his chance to become WWE Champion at the Royal Rumble back in January when he failed to dethrone then-champion Drew McIntyre
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t lose the faith. I certainly didn’t lose the faith after the match in Montreal [vs. Roman Reigns]. It was a heartbreaker, no doubt, okay. But I thought, ‘This is the closest I’ve come, so I’ll just get closer and closer until I get there.’ The one that really did my head in a little bit was coming up short against Drew this past January at the Royal Rumble because after that one, that’s when I was already starting to feel like maybe I had missed my window. And I couldn’t give up faith, but it was the first time my faith was shook, if I’m being totally honest. I knew I had the talent. I knew I had everything, I knew I was just as good as any of these guys. Drew, Roman, Cody, Seth. And the proof is you’ve seen me mix it up in the ring with all of them. You’ve seen my body of work. There’s no question in my mind. These are my peers and that’s almost what made it more maddening. ‘Why them and why not me? Why is it so close and I just can’t get my hands on it?’”
-Sami Zayn
Elsewhere during the Raw Recap appearance, Zayn revealed that he is still processing the title win and feels as though a weight has finally been lifted off his shoulders.
“I’m still processing it a lot, believe it or not. It’s kind of hard to fully take in. But I guess if I had to answer in one word, it feels just great. It really does. It feels like the weight of the world’s off my shoulder. I think anyone who’s paid attention has seen that I kind of drove myself to the edge of sanity a little bit there for a while, just by putting so much pressure on myself to win this thing, and it’s here. And I feel like I can just breathe. It feels great.”
-Sami Zayn
Despite not winning the King of the Ring tournament to earn a championship opportunity, the June 29 edition of Monday Night Raw saw Jey Uso stake his claim as Sami Zayn’s first challenger, with the pair sharing significant history through Zayn’s former connection to The Bloodline.
However, Cody Rhodes is also likely to be seeking a rematch in the coming weeks, meaning Sami Zayn will be far from short of challengers as his first reign as Undisputed WWE Champion begins.
You can find more on the latest WWE news here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the decision to put the WWE Championship on Sami Zayn as soon as we hear more.
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